Food Storage

Not long ago I ran across a video clip done by Wendy Dewitt, a food storage specialist. She said a couple of things that have left a lasting impression on me about food storage.
* 85% of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints do NOT have food storage. So, if you think you are going to take yourself, and all of your family, to the church to share out of the never depleting barrels of food, then you need a new plan. Statistically only 15% of the members will have food, and 100% of the people will want to eat. Do the math.
* A common misconception made by many members of the church is that if you pay your tithing then surely the church can provide you with a little food. The church does not have food stored in huge grain silos or in underground cities. All the food the church has, at all of it's facilities, would only feed 4% of the membership of the church. 4% of church members only. If this is your plan, you need a new plan. Check out Wendy's top 10 excuses for not doing food storage here.
Today I was able to take off my mom hat for a little while and go to the dry pack cannery. Loads of fun let me tell you....not really, but a necessary evil. Oh alright, it's really not that bad, but it is work. Lots and lots of work.
I remember the first time I went to the dry pack cannery when Bill and I were first married. The sign-up list circulated around Relief Society with our assigned date and I signed my name to the list. Imagine this, when I showed up at the cannery with hardly a nickel to my name, all prepared to provide several hours of service, only to discover just exactly what the dry pack cannery was really all about. I had no idea, I thought I signed up to be a volunteer preparing foods to distribute through the church's welfare system, not to purchase bulk items of food for MY food storage. Say what? Seriously, that is what I thought.
Oh well, it was a great learning experience. I went home with a few little #10 cans of food wondering what magic trick I would have to preform in my checking account to cover the cost. I was stunned that my bishop and his wife were there and purchasing 30 cans of this and 20 cans of that, I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. Today, over a decade later, I stood in the cannery with my own 30+ cans of this and that and realized that I CAN (no pun intended) now, finally, wrap my mind around the dry pack cannery.
Bill and I have been diligently working on our food storage for over a year now with a little here and a little there. It really does add up quickly, more quickly than we thought. In fact, all the food I purchased today will have to stay in our dining room until we can figure out where to put it. Our shelves in the basement are full, and we need to purchase more shelves. So until that can be arranged, along with some rearranging of other stuff in the basement, the boxes will have to stay where they are. I kinda like seeing them there. It's comforting.
I'm not on a soap box preaching about food storage really, it's your choice. I just keep thinking about the people of Haiti and what happens when emergencies strike. What people will do when the need for food is great and the supply is low is scary to me. Who can blame them? It's a matter of life or death.